On January 29th, the Forum on the Arms Trade hosted a webinar exploring the challenges posed by improvised weapons production to regional stability and human security. This topic has become even more relevant as current arms regulations often miss how technical information and commercial components enhance the lethality of these weapons, raising not only a production issue, but a detection and a commercial issue, as many legal products become now tools to produce these weapons. Panelists covered the issue of the so-called “democratization” of production and how information on production easily flows through online and offline networks, and the new techniques and strategies criminals use to repurpose or convert common materials into elements for different types of improvised weapons.
During the presentations, panelists introduced what is internationally understood as an improvised weapon, which are referred to those that have not been industrially produced and range from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). They identified certain trends, based on recent research and regional consultations with experts, finding that most of these weapons are produced outside State control and are more attractive to non-state actors, such as cartels, terrorists, and organized groups due to their decentralized production, tracing difficulties, and accessible technology. They highlighted trends in offline and online information sharing, which has become a real challenge, as it underpins the production of improvised weapons. In addition, panelists highlighted how organized groups use common products, such as drones or security cameras, for surveillance purposes, which strategically empowers criminal groups to carry out illegal activities. They stressed how criminals are also recruiting young people with knowledge of new technologies and leveraging this knowledge for their own benefit. One of the main issues that both emphasized is that authorities are not always aware of these trends and that arms policy is not sufficient to counteract these criminal activities. During the Q&A, the discussion pointed at important issues such as porous borders, regulation of common use products in public spaces, the victims’ perspective, and international legal gaps.
Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWfntsRSOj0
During the presentations, panelists introduced what is internationally understood as an improvised weapon, which are referred to those that have not been industrially produced and range from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS). They identified certain trends, based on recent research and regional consultations with experts, finding that most of these weapons are produced outside State control and are more attractive to non-state actors, such as cartels, terrorists, and organized groups due to their decentralized production, tracing difficulties, and accessible technology. They highlighted trends in offline and online information sharing, which has become a real challenge, as it underpins the production of improvised weapons. In addition, panelists highlighted how organized groups use common products, such as drones or security cameras, for surveillance purposes, which strategically empowers criminal groups to carry out illegal activities. They stressed how criminals are also recruiting young people with knowledge of new technologies and leveraging this knowledge for their own benefit. One of the main issues that both emphasized is that authorities are not always aware of these trends and that arms policy is not sufficient to counteract these criminal activities. During the Q&A, the discussion pointed at important issues such as porous borders, regulation of common use products in public spaces, the victims’ perspective, and international legal gaps.
Video available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWfntsRSOj0
Panelists
Recommendations:
Legislative and policy-oriented approach:
Operational approach:
Cooperational approach:
Suggested resources
*This event was inspired and led by a working group of the Forum on the Arms Trade’s emerging expert program, with more events to be announced. The Forum provides a platform for sharing of views but does not itself take a position.
- Manuel Balcázar, Director of MB- IRIS Consulting
- Sunniva Reinertsen, Graduate Professional, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
- Melanie Garcia Flores, Emerging Expert, Forum on the Arms Trade (moderator)*, Consultant at Organization of American States (OAS)
Recommendations:
Legislative and policy-oriented approach:
- Existing policy frameworks at different levels should be revised to follow trends on improvised weapons production at the pace of innovation.
- Criminalize the processing of blueprints for the purpose of manufacturing weapons. Only downloading a blueprint is considered an offense today in some places.
- Introduce indicators that intertwine with improvised weapons production, such as a new ways of producing energy, that could serve for criminal activities.
Operational approach:
- Track online knowledge flow and regulate the hosts of online platforms.
- Find support among civil society actors for open source investigations, to map flows, hotspots and tendencies related to improvised weapons production.
- Close the gap between national and local governments in order to collect more data on new trends.
- Track money laundering, especially through cryptocurrencies, which are normally used to support the production of improvised weapons.
Cooperational approach:
- Improve information sharing among relevant international stakeholders, including national authorities, law enforcement, border control, civil society, social media platforms and postal/shipping companies.
- Improve data collection to understand emerging developments.
- Support and foster partnerships between civil society and the private sector to gather more information on trends regarding dual-use materials.
- Encourage government and civil society initiatives to rebuild trust and encourage civil society to report unusual activities that point to the improvised production of weapons.
Suggested resources
- UNIDIR reports
- on knowledge transfer: "“Do not try this at home!”: Current trends and developments in improvised weapons production," November 2025.
- on uncrewed aerial systems and non-state armed groups: "The Use of Uncrewed Aerial Systems by Non-State Armed Groups: Exploring Trends in Myanmar," January 2026.
- on unregulated production and craft-produced weapons: "Unregulated Production: Examining Craft-Produced Weapons from a Global Perspective," June 2024 and "Unregulated: Examining the Global Proliferation of Craft-Produced Weapons," February 2024.
- Manuel Bálcazar, paper on national intelligence, presented at National Intelligence University, March 2025.
- Example of organized crime groups or cartels that traveled to conflict zones to acquire know-how on producing improvised weapons: "Crime by Drone," Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, October 2025.
- IGAD’s Regional Strategy (Intergovernmental Authority on Development)
*This event was inspired and led by a working group of the Forum on the Arms Trade’s emerging expert program, with more events to be announced. The Forum provides a platform for sharing of views but does not itself take a position.
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